Blue KC Chiefs Kingdom Champion: Scott Poore and Dr. Bill Busch

We’re spotlighting two Kansas Citians who were recently honored as Chiefs Kingdom Champions.

Scott Poore

For the Chiefs December 10 matchup against the Oakland Raiders, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) and the Chiefs selected Scott Poore, founder of Adopt Don’t Shop KC, to be honored as the Blue KC Chiefs Kingdom Champion. Prior to kickoff, Poore received on-field recognition and conducted the ceremonial first pass to Deron Cherry before touring the Chiefs broadcast booth and enjoying the game.

Since founding Adopt Don’t Shop KC—an online apparel company—in 2016, Poore has made it his mission to raise funds and awareness for local animal shelters and homeless pets across the metro. Through sales from the company’s pet-friendly and rescue-promoting clothing items, Poore is able to spend four to five hours visiting shelters and promoting their most difficult-to-adopt pets through social media videos.

“I spent the first part of my life focused on what I could get out of life,” said Poore, whose pet-promoting videos regularly go viral, resulting in a successful adoption. “Working with shelter pets has made me realize that it’s more about what you can give.”

Dr. Bill Busch

For the Chiefs December 16 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) and the Chiefs selected Dr. Bill Busch, creator and co-founder of TeamSmile, to be honored as the Blue KC Chiefs Kingdom Champion. Prior to kickoff, Dr. Busch received on-field recognition and conducted the ceremonial first pass to Chris Bober before touring the Chiefs broadcast booth and enjoying the game.

Serving in private practice since 1991, Dr. Busch founded TeamSmile in the mid-2000s to serve as a non-profit organization in which dental professionals and pro athletes would team up to provide free, top-notch dental care to underserved children in the Kansas City area. Now, more than a decade later, TeamSmile has held almost 150 programs, served more than 25,000 children and provided more than $15 million in free dental care and oral health education in Kansas City and select communities around the country.

“In areas where economic hardship is at its highest, oral health care is not seen as a priority,” said Dr. Busch, who came to Kansas City from New York for his residency nearly 30 years ago and decided to make it his home. “The people of Kansas City have given me the opportunity to practice what I love in a city that I love. That being said, I wanted to help the underserved in a big way; hence, TeamSmile was born.”